Chinese symbol for “decrease”
损
sǔn
Traditional: 損
(bound form) to decrease; to diminish; (bound form) to harm; to damage; (coll.) to ridicule; to deride; (coll.) mean; nasty; sarcastic
The closest CC-CEDICT match for decrease is 损 (sǔn), defined as: (bound form) to decrease; to diminish; (bound form) to harm; to damage; (coll.) to ridicule; to deride; (coll.) mean; nasty; sarcastic.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “decrease”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 减少 (減少) | jiǎn shǎo | to lessen; to decrease; to reduce; to lower |
| 缩小 (縮小) | suō xiǎo | to reduce; to decrease; to shrink |
| 下降 | xià jiàng | to decline; to drop |
| 减 (減) | jiǎn | to lower; to decrease |
| 减小 (減小) | jiǎn xiǎo | to reduce; to decrease |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 损.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 损失 (損失) | sǔn shī | loss; damage |
| 损害 (損害) | sǔn hài | harm; to damage |
| 亏损 (虧損) | kuī sǔn | deficit; (financial) loss |
| 损伤 (損傷) | sǔn shāng | to harm; to damage |
| 损坏 (損壞) | sǔn huài | to damage; to injure |
| 受损 (受損) | shòu sǔn | to suffer damage |
See also: Japanese symbol for “decrease”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.